Obituary of Dorothy Patricia Cole

February 1, 1928 – September 27, 2018

Dorothy P. Cole, Age 90 of Southgate.  

Beloved wife of the late Robert A. Cole. Loving mother of Diane Cole, Cynthia (Thomas) Alvado and Robert George (Ria) Cole. Dearest grandmother of Melanie (Brandon), Michael, Mary, Megan, Cole Thomas, Cameron, Grant, Valerie, Phoebe, Jacob and Zachary. Dear great grandmother of Dayton, Makensie, Seth, Paige, Nevaeh, Ashton, Maci and Jace.

FAMILY TRIBUTE

Dorothy Patricia Cole was born in Palmer, Pennsylvania on February 1^st, 1928 at 11:55 pm, making her almost a Groundhog Day baby. She attended Hurst High School in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania and was a part of the graduating class of 1945. Upon graduating, she went on to work for Michigan Manufacturer’s Association as a Group Insurance Manager. She remained with the company for 32 years until she retired in 1979. Outside of work, she was involved with Rosary Altar Confraternity.

Dorothy was known for being loving, caring, giving, dependable, religious, independent, feisty, stubborn, strong, a fighter (she was first diagnosed with cancer in 1991 – had cancer 4 times), competitive, inquisitive, and thoughtful. Her hobbies and interests included attending her children’s and grandchildren’s softball, baseball, hockey, basketball and soccer games. She was an avid Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, and Pittsburg Penguins fan and loved playing Bingo and the lottery. Dorothy will always be remembered for many reasons, including her unwavering support for her children’s and grandchildren’s sporting events and school activities.  Everyone knew her at the sporting events because she would bring her cow bell and ring it loudly and proudly. Dorothy wasn’t afraid to cheer loudly and proudly either, often times giving it to the referees if she thought that they made a bad call.

She loved being called Nana by her grandchildren. She was born a Coal Miner’s daughter. Her Czechoslovakian heritage was something she was extremely proud of, and she would sing Stoa at every birthday party (“100, 100, hope you live to be 100”), and making delicious Czechoslovakian dishes such as Paguch (“pugguch”) and Kolachies. She loved going to the St. Pius Festival, and you would usually find her there either in the bingo tent or the pull tab booth. She was very religious, attending church every Sunday and saying her prayers every night, kneeling by her bedside before going to bed.

Dorothy loved her home, gardening and celebrating the holidays. Every holiday she would do special things for her children and grandchildren to celebrate them, such as putting red or green food coloring into our milk or mashed potatoes to celebrate Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day, and would cut little pieces of cheese into triangles in order to make open faced Jack ‘O’ Lantern hamburgers for Halloween. She was ahead of her time, being the only female Group Insurance Manager at Michigan Manufacturer’s Association, and for being a working mother when it was not the norm at that time. She loved, loved, loved babysitting her grandchildren! Dorothy also loved going for drives in her car.

We remember our mom/grandma most for her love and support to her family, especially at her children’s and grandchildren’s sporting and school events, being extremely proud of her Czechoslovakian heritage (she spoke Czechoslovakian fluently), and being proud of being from Pennsylvania.